Rib-knitting machine.



R. W. SCOTT.

RIB KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 21, 1913.

Patnted May 26, 1914.

- 2 SHEETS*SHEBT '2.

' UNITED STATES PATENT ormon.

ROBERT W. SCOTT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SCOTT 85 WILLIAMS, INCORPORATED, OF CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

RIB-KNITTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Hay 26, 1914.

Application filed 0ctobe1 21, 1913. Serial No. 796,523.

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT IV. SCOTT, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts. have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rib-Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to improve the instruments employed to knit ribbed webs.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a radial cross-section of a part of a cylinder and dial machine embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a diagram section illustrating one position of the primary and secondary needles in a machine corresponding to my invention; Figs. 3 and 4 respectively illustrate further steps inthe formation of a course of rib fabric, by the operation of the needles shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a similar figure illustrating the use of a modified form of needle in one of the carriers of the machine; Fig. 6 is a partial under-plan of a dial cam cap illustrating the knitting cams; Fig. 7 is a partial development of the interior of the cam ring illustrating cams for the cylinder needles; Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating the relation of a certain form of secondary needle to the yarn and the needles of the primary carrier; Fig. 9 is a detail showing on an enlarged scale a swinging press'er or latch employed with the secondary needles.

In cylinder and dial rib knitting machines the primary needles, (usually the cylinder needles) are operated to first draw their stitches, the intervening yarn being laid over the secondary or dial needles, the latter being then retracted to knock over the old loop. Secondary needles, as instaneed the dial needles, thus knit with runs of yarn already interlocked with the fabric at the adjacent cylinder wales. The distance to which the secondary needle may move with respect to the plane of the primary needles, for knitting, is measured by the extent to which it may move without unduly straining the new yarn supplied to it.

Ifthe secondary needles are spring beard needles, the yarn of the new course must be deposited upon them in a position to enter under their beards when said needles arenext retracted. After the new yarn is under the beard, and before the old loop and the point of the beard have come together, the beard must be pressed, and the pressure must be maintained until the old loop is placed or landed upon and outside of the closed beard; This operation is difiieult, owing to the limited distance away from the new y arn of the old secondary loop determined-by the gage of the fabric, which distance may be very small.

By the'means about to be described I am enabled to knit fine gage fabric, comparably with the yarn in use, with such advantage as flows from the use of spring-beard needles,

plicating the. mechanism. and without encountering the above ditiiculties.

I prefer to employ a cylinder 2 and dial 3, which may be of any familiar type, such as that shown. In longitudinal grooves of the cylinder 2, and in radial grooves of the dial 3, which are as usual. I mount respectively cylinder needles or and dial needles y. The cylinder needles :1, which I have shown for example only arranged to operate as primary needles, may be of any usual construction, such the-latch needles shown, although have indicated in Fig. 5 a set of primary needles 00 made as spring beard needles of a usual type, in which case a presscr P or its equivalent will be employed.

I may employ latch needles of the proper dimension such as those shown at m, without affecting the fineness or increasing the impressed strain on either face of the fabric, if the secondary needles are of the proper character and dimensions.

The secondary needles y, shown for example only as placed in the dial, have the usual shanks and operating butts, the shanks terminating in a reduced point 12, turned upon itself in a sharp bend at 20, to form the long resilient beard 13. Near the point of the beard in a slot in the shank of the needle 2. short, rigid swinging latch or presser 15 is pivoted at 16. The length of the latch, and the position of the point of the hook or beard when at rest, may be proportioned substantially as best shown in Figs. 4 and 7. The point of the open heard is at a position I bringing it within the arc swept by the end of the latch or presser, which is situated at a comparatively great distance from the extreme point or head 20 of the needle 3 I preferably form the end of the latch-15 as a channeled part 18 (Fig. 8), which upon without impressed weakness, without comclosure of the latch will determine the bending of the beard'toward the shank of the needle, and cause the point of said beard to remain in line with the latch 15.

The structure m tde up of the beard 13, the closed presser or latch 15, and the portion 12 of the needle is thinner from back to front than a rigid-hook latch-needle could be to be operative with the same diameter of yarn.

Referring now to Fig. 8 the area X (which is defined by lines parallel to the primary needles passing through the point of the needle beard 13 and the tip of the latch 15 when said latch is in contact with the old loop to but still fully open) represents a space within which the hook-ends of the primary needles may be held to move.

It has been pointed out above that the gage of the fabric limits the distance to which the old loop w of the last course knit may be removed from the face loop 7, standing impaled upon the needles m. If the me dle g shown at Fig. 8 were a spring needle of the ordinary type, it would become necessary to maintain the loop w as far as possible from the area X, to permit certain pressing, whereas this separation is already limited as above described. But with the use of my new combination comprising a needle y, such as that shown, having a latch 15, the yarn of the new course may be deposited upon the needle g at any point of its intersection with the area X; that is to say, the new yarn may be placed anywhere between the end of the open latch and the point of the hook, the latch serving to separate the new yarn and old loop, and to guide the old loop upon the beard when the needle is retracted. lhe dotted circles n indicate possible operative positions for the new yarn. The use of my new secondary needle and its cooperating devices will thus enable the old loop w to be brought close to the necessary location of the primary needles and of the new yarn not the primary course without endangering the proper passage of the beard 13 under the loop w upon the next operative movement of the needle 1/. Thus the verge, V of the dial 3, in the illustrative machine shown, may be broughtcloser to the line of the primary needles, than would otherwise be the case. ,r

Such a location within the area X for-the plane of the primary needles may be'selected as will give some margin for misplacement of the primary course at with respeot to the needles y, for instance the plane central of the area'X.

Rib knitting machines employing spring beard needles of the ordinary sort, when able to operate with a sufiicient separation of the old secondary. loop and the new yarn, are still limited in the speed at which they can operate, owing to the difi'iculty of pressing the beard accurately atthe desired time neemee to include the new yarn and pass through the old loop. 0ne advantage of my new combination consists in the increased speed at which needles of the character described may be operated in the situation set out. The relation of the latch or presser to the needle beards remains constant whatever the speed, and knitting at the desired increased rate may be performed, without increased difiiculty. f

In order ,to operate the needles, the cam ring 6 may be provided with advancing cams 30 to elevate the needles m to cause them to open their latches and take yarn froma yarn guide 50 of any usual type. Following the cams 30, draw or stitch-cams 32 fastened for adjustment as at 33 are provided. Following the downward apex of the stitch cams 32, I prefer to provide advancing or relief cam slopes 34, to bring the cylinder needles w to a level 35, at which level the needles as are located with respect to the needles y as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Coiiperating with the cam ring 6 for moving the needles a: I employ on the dial cam cap 5, for moving the needles y, cams such as those illustrated in Fig. 6 and comprising plates 40 having advancing slopes 41. These advancing slopes may terminate in the same radial planes AA, AA, etc., as the advancing slopes 31 of the cylinder cams 30. Needlesy afiectedby the slope 41 will be moved outwardly to clear the points of the latches 15 outside of the loops w. These loops u; will be retained near the verge V by the projected cylinder needles a: resting against the loop f of a previous course. The needles y, having been projected to the clear point, may then be positioned to receive the yarn of the primary course in the manner indicated in Fig. 8, and for this purpose ll provide a concentric portion 42 of the cam grooye defined by a plate 40 and a plate 43, to hold the needles in the relative position shown in Fig. 8, at which the open latches 15 rest in a position ready to be closedby the loops to. The dial needles retain this position during the operation of the cam 32 upon the cylinder needles associated with them, and during the advance of the cylinder needles by the incline 34.

The dial needles are actuated to knit at the radial planes GC, CC, etc., and for this purpose the dial cam cap 5 may be provided with stitch cams 44, adjustable in any usual manner such as by the screw and slot indicated at 45.

I have indicated in Figs. 6 and 7 a succession of like cylinder and dial cams and yarn guides for knitting a multiple-course fabric, but it will be understood that my invention is independent of the number of .feed points. The mechanical construction' of the needle cylinder 2 and the needle-dial 3, the camcap 5, and cam-ring 6, and the means for its supporting and driving the parts, for taking up the fabric and for supplying yarn'to the needles may be such as those familiarly in use for latch-needle rib-knitting machines; I do not herein claim a spring beard needle having a relatively short presser or latch for closing the gap between the beard and the shank of the needles and pressing the beard, such a needle being described and claimed in my application Serial No. 7 92,872 filed October 1, 1913.

What I claim is 1. A rib knitting machine having therein a set of primary needles, a set of secondary needles having spring beards and latches for closing and pressing said beards, and means for operating the primary needles to knit a course of one face of the fabric, in combination with means to position said secondary needles with their latches open to receive the yarn in the plane of the primary needles, and means for operating said secondary needles to land the old loop upon their beards and thereafter to draw the new 25 loop therethrough.

2. In a rib knitting machine, needle carriers, a primary set of needlesin one carrier, and a seconda set of needles having spring hooks in ano tlier carrier, said secondary needles each having a latch, in combination with means to position said secondary needles to receive the yarn intervening bei tween primary loops. between the ends of cause the needles of their open latches and the points of said hooks, whereby said latches separate the new yarn from the old loops on said secondary needles.

'3. In a rib knitting machine, primar and secondary needle carriers, springeard needles in said secondary carrier, means to said primary carrier to it a course containing suflicient yarn for a secondary course of loops and to apply said course upon the needles of the secondar carrier, and means including latches for the spring beard needlescooperating with the said needles of the arate the yarn of from that of said knittingmovement of said secondary needles whereby the secondary course may be knit secondary carrier to sepa previously kmt course secondary needle new course 4 during the by said secondary needles with respect to a 7 previously knit course held close to the plane of said primary needles. 7

4. In a rib knitting machine primary and carriers, spring beard needles in said secondary carrier having latches capable of being closed on the points of said beards, means to advance said secondary needles to clear their latches through the loops of the previous course, and means to hold said secondary needles with their open latches in position ready to be closed by the previous loop upon their shanks, in combination with means to cause the needles of the primary carrier associated with said secondary needles to knit a course containing suflicient yarn for a secondary course of loops and apply said course between the open 'latches and the points of the hooks of said secondary needles during their retention in said position, and means for moving said secondary needles to knit.

5. A rib knitting machine having therein a set of primary needles and means to operate said needles to knit a course of one face of the fabric, a set of secondary needles having thin spring beards and latches for closing and pressing saidbeards; means for operating said secondary needles to clear their after to hold said secondary needles in position to receive the yarn of said course between the points of their latches and said beards, substantially in the plane of said primary needles, during the knitting of said course, and means for thereafter moving said secondary needles to knit, whereby the old loops of the secondary face of the fabric are landed upon said beards while near said plane, and subsequently knocked over upon the new yarn without undue strain upon the new yarn.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT W. SCOTT. 'Witnesses:

M. G. CRozIER, MARY Gnmrm.

latches through their loops, means there- 

